The Three Winchesters

Dead Man's Blood

CAFE

Dean and Ellie are flipping through newspapers, Sam is on his laptop. Dean and Ellie look at each other defeated.
"Well, there is not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. You got anything, Sammy?" Ellie says.
"Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here. A woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived." Sam tells them.
"Sounds more like 'That's Incredible' than, uh, 'Twilight Zone'." Dean says to Sam.
"Yeah." Sam agrees.
"Hey, you know we could just keep heading east. New York. Upstate. We could drop by and see Sarah again, huh? Cool chick man, smoking." Dean whistles as Ellie shakes her head and smiles.
"You two did seem pretty friendly." Ellie adds.
"What do you say?" Dean asks Sam.
"Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday. But in the meantime we got a lot of work to do, and you two know that." Sam says looking at Ellie and Dean.
"Yeah all right, what else you got?" Ellie says.
"Ahh, man in Colorado, local man Daniel Elkins, was found mauled in his home." Sam tells them, Ellie looks up thinking.
"Elkins? I know that name." Ellie says, Dean clicks his fingers at Ellie.
"So do I." Dean says.
"Doesn't ring a bell." Sam says shaking his head.
"Elkins... Elkins... Elkins.." Dean whispers under his breath.
"Sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first they said it was some sort of bear attack and now, they've found some signs of robbery." Sam tells them. Dean picks up John's journal.
"There, check it out." Dean says handing the journal to Ellie and Sam and points to a contact:
'D.ELKINS 970-555-0158'
"You think it's the same Elkins?" Sam says.
"It's a Colorado area code." Ellie tells them. The three pack up their stuff and head to the car, cruising down past snow-capped mountains.

ELKINS CABIN - NIGHT

They get to the cabin at midnight. Ellie picks the lock and they slowly open the door, Dean comes in with a flashlight, they look around. Ellie lets out a whistle at all the mess around.
"Looks like the maid didn't come today." Ellie says.
"Hey, there's salt over there. Right beside the door." Sam points out, Dean picks up Elkins journal. Ellie goes over to the salt and sees its in a ring.
"You mean protection against demon salt or 'oops I spilled the popcorn salt.'" Dean asks, flicking through the journal.
"It's clearly a ring. You think this guy Elkins was a player?" Ellie asks her brothers looking over at them.
"Definitely." Dean tells them. Sam comes up behind Dean and looks at the journal.
"That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's." Sam says, Ellie turns around and walks over to them.
"Yep, except this dates back to the 60s." Dean tells his younger siblings. The three move into the other room and shine their flashlights around the destruction, including the hole in the roof.
"Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one." Ellie says, looking around the room.
"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight too." Dean says. Sam and Ellie nod agreeing with him. Dean crouches to get a closer look at the floor. Ellie goes over to him.
"You got something?" Ellie asks.
"I dunno. Some scratches on the floor." Dean tells her.
"Death throes maybe?" Sam asks. Dean grabs a page from a notebook, places it over the marks and rubs a pencil lead over it to get an outline.
"Or maybe a message." Dean tells then as he peels up the paper. He passes the note to Ellie, with Sam coming up from behind her also looking at the notes.
"Three letters, six digits. The location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop." Ellie says.
"Just the way Dad does it." Dean tells them.

POST OFFICE

The three Winchesters arrive at the post box. Dean removes the letter and shows it to Sam and Ellie. They all look at each other, confused. They walk over to the Impala, Ellie is leaning forward in the back seat.
"'J.W.' You think? John Winchester?" Ellie says looking at Dean and then Sam.
"I don't know. Should we open it?" Dean asks. There is a knock on Dean's window. Dean gasps, rears back, automatically raising his arm, fist clenched. It's John.
"Holy crap!" Ellie shouts. John sees he has shocked them he smiles.
"Dad?" Dean breathes out. John gets in the back seat and wraps an arm around Ellie who leans into his shoulder with a big grin.
"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you all right?" Sam asks, turning around to look at him.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I read the news about Daniel. I got here as fast as I could. I saw you three at his place." John says.
"Why didn't you come in Dad?" Sam asks softly.
"You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren't followed... by anyone or anything. Nice job of covering your tracks by the way." John tells them. Ellie and Dean smile. Dean looks a little proud.
"Yeah, well, we learned from the best." Dean says.
"Wait, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam questions.
"Yeah. He was... he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting." John tells them.
"Well you never mentioned him to us." Sam says. Ellie rolls her eyes, knowing that the constant questions and retorts are back already.
"We had a... we had kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years." John gestures to the envelope. "I should look at that." John opens it and starts to read. "'If you're reading this, I'm already dead'... that son of a bitch." John says.
"What is it?" Ellie asks looking at her dad.
"He had it the whole time." John states.
"Dad, what?" Sam asks.
"When you searched the place, did you, did you see a gun? An antique, a Colt revolver, did you see it?" John asks frantically.
"Ah, there was, there was an old case but it was empty." Ellie tells him.
"They have it." John states.
"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" Dean asks.
"We gotta pick up the trail." John says as he starts getting out of the car.
"Wait. You want us to come with you?" Sam asks as Ellie slightly smiles.
"If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun." John tells them.
"The gun - why?" Sam asks.
"Because it's important, that's why." John says.
"Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet." Sam tells them.
"They were what Daniel Elkins killed best: Vampires." John says. Ellie widens her eyes.
"Vampires?" Ellie and Dean say at the same time.
"I thought there was no such thing." Dean breathes out.
"You never even mentioned them, Dad." Sam states.
"I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and - and others had wiped them out. I was wrong." John starts. "Most vampire lore is crap. A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust, that part's true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you don't know it's a vampire until it's too late."